Slipknot Bassist Found Dead in Hotel Room

Paul Dedrick Gray Performance

Slipknot bassist Paul Dedrick Gray was found dead this morning at 10:50 AM CT at the TownePlace Suites in Urbandale, Iowa, police have confirmed. He was 38.

A hotel employee found Gray's body after receiving a call from a concerned family member. "They checked the room and found him deceased inside," officer Dave Disney of the Urbandale Police Department told Noisecreep. Gray was alone in the room and there was no disturbance and no evidence of foul play.

Paul Dedrick Gray real face

The bassist had checked into the hotel on May 22 and had received no complaints during his stay. "He was a quiet and respectful guest," hotel spokesman Chris Diebel told Noisecreep.

An autopsy will be conducted tomorrow to determine the cause of death.

Gray, who was one of the primary songwriters in the band, planted the seeds of Slipknot in 1992 with drummer Shawn Crahan. After Joey Jordison took over on drums, Crahan moved to percussion, and on Oct. 31, 1995 Slipknot released their first demo 'Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat.' After replacing original vocalist Anders Colsefini with Corey Taylor, the band secured a record deal with Roadrunner and wrote their self-titled album, which was produced by Ross Robinson and released in 1999.


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Since then, the band has released three commercially successful albums, including 2008's 'All Hope Is Gone.'

Our condolences go out to the friends and family of Gray.

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Ohio man, son killed after Ark. cops fatally shot

In this April 8, 2010, photo supplied by the West Memphis Times, West Memphis Police Sgt. Brandon Paudert, …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – An Ohio man's resentment of authority and run-ins with the law was enough for a local sheriff to warn that he could be dangerous if confronted by law enforcement. Years later, the sheriff appears right: The man and his teenage son are suspected of fatally shooting two Arkansas police officers during a traffic stop before they died in a shootout.

Jerry Kane Jr., 45, of Forest, Ohio, and his son Joseph Kane, believed to be 16, were killed during an exchange of gunfire with officers in a Walmart parking lot, Arkansas State Police said Friday.

The shootings came about 90 minutes after West Memphis police Sgt. Brandon Paudert, 39, and Officer Bill Evans, 38, were attacked with AK-47 assault rifles after they stopped a minivan on Interstate 40 in West Memphis on Thursday, authorities said.

Jerry Kane, who had a long history with police, used the Internet to question federal and local governments' authority over him and held debt-elimination seminars around the country. He recently complained about being busted at a "Nazi checkpoint" near Carrizozo, N.M., where court records show he spent three days in jail before posting a $1,500 bond on charges of driving without a license and concealing his identity.

Sheriff Gene Kelly in Clark County, Ohio, said he issued a warning to law enforcement about Kane in July 2004, after Kane said a judge tried to "enslave" him when he was sentenced to six days of community service for driving with an expired license plate and no seat belt. Kane claimed he was a "free man" and asked for $100,000 per day in gold or silver, Kelly said.

"After listening to this man for almost 30 minutes, I feel that he is expecting and prepared for confrontations with any law enforcement officer that may come in contact with him," Kelly wrote in his warning to officers.

Kelly told The Associated Press on Friday that he had been "very concerned about a potential confrontation and about his resentment of authority."

On an Internet radio show, hosted on a website that lets amateurs create their own shows and live discussions, Kane expressed outrage about his New Mexico arrest.

"I ran into a Nazi checkpoint in the middle of New Mexico where they were demanding papers or jail," he said. "That was the option. Either produce your papers or go to jail. So I entered into commerce with them under threat, duress and coercion, and spent 47 hours in there."

Kane said he planned to file a counterclaim alleging kidnapping and extortion against those involved in his arrest and detention. Kane also said he had an officer sign a document that said the officer must pay for using Kane's name.

"I am now putting together an invoice for him for approximately $80,000 in gold for the eight times he used my name," Kane said on the radio show. "I already have done a background check on him. I found out where he lives, his address, his wife's name."

Mark Potok, who directs hate-group research at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Kane had not been in the group's database before Thursday. But he said that was not surprising, given the "explosive growth" in the anti-government movement in recent years. With 363 new groups in 2009, there are now 512, Potok said.

Members of so-called patriot groups don't recognize the authority of the U.S. government and consider themselves sovereign citizens.

JJ MacNab, a Maryland-based insurance analyst who has testified before Congress on tax and financial scams, said she had been tracking Kane for about two years and that his business centered on debt-avoidance scams.

Potok said such scams are common in the sovereign citizen movement.

"He basically promised them they would never have to repay their mortgage or credit card debt," MacNab said.

Kane's website showed he held one of his seminars in Las Vegas 15-16 and that he was due to appear in Safety Harbor, Fla., May 28-29. His website Friday asked that donations be sent to an address in Clearwater, Fla., to help his family.

At that Florida address, a woman, speaking through the front door, told an AP reporter to leave the property when he knocked and identified himself. Two bicycles were in front of the unkempt, single-story home and exercise equipment was on the porch. A sign on the front door read: "No visitors. This means you. Thank you for understanding."

A woman who answered the door at the home of Kane's mother, Patricia Holt of Marysville, Ohio, also told an AP reporter to leave and said she had no comment. She did not identify herself.

source

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13-year-old American climbs Everest, calls his mom

Jordan Romero

BEIJING – The youngest climber to reach the peak of Mount Everest hugged his tearful companions and told them he loved them. Then 13-year-old Jordan Romero took the satellite phone and called his mom.

"He says, 'Mom, I'm calling you from the top of the world,'" a giddy Leigh Anne Drake told The Associated Press from California, where she had been watching her son's progress minute by minute on a GPS tracker online.

"There were lots of tears and 'I love you! I love you!'" Drake said. "I just told him to get his butt back home."

With Saturday's success on the world's highest mountain, at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level, Jordan is just one climb from his quest to reach the highest peaks on all seven continents.

The teenager with a mop of long curly hair — who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa when he was 9 years old — says he was inspired by a painting in his school hallway of the seven continents' highest summits.

"Every step I take is finally toward the biggest goal of my life, to stand on top of the world," Jordan said earlier on his blog.

Before him, the youngest climber to scale Everest had been Temba Tsheri of Nepal, who reached the peak at age 16.

Also Saturday, officials said a Nepalese Sherpa who lives in Salt Lake City broke his own world record by climbing Everest for the 20th time. Apa, who goes by one name, went up to collect garbage, a growing environmental problem on the mountain.

Several climbers took advantage of Saturday's clear weather to reach the summit, Mountaineering Department official Tilak Pandey said. May is the most popular month for Everest climbs because of more favorable weather.

Jordan had never climbed above 8,000 meters (26,240 feet), but his team climbed quickly along the final ridge to arrive at the peak hours ahead of schedule.

"The first thing, they all hugged each other and said, 'I love you, I can't believe we're finally here' and started crying," said Rob Bailey, the team's spokesman, by phone from the United States.

"I don't think it ever dawned on them to say, 'Oh my gosh, Jordan, you're the youngest to get up here,'" Bailey said. "It's never been about setting a record, besting anybody else."

Jordan, from the San Bernardino Mountains ski town of Big Bear, California, was climbing Everest with his father, his father's girlfriend and three Sherpa guides.

Helicopter paramedic Paul Romero and his girlfriend have trained Jordan for top-level mountaineering. Romero and Karen Lundgren are adventure racers, competing in weeklong endurance races that combine biking, climbing, paddling and climbing through wilderness areas.

Before the group set out for Nepal, Paul Romero said he wanted nothing more than to make his son's dreams come true, even as the quest raised questions over how young is too young to scale Everest, a mountain where harsh conditions have caused scores of climbers' deaths.

The group, dubbed "Team Jordan" on the teen's blog, approached the peak along the technically more difficult, less-traveled northern route from the base camp on the Chinese side.

Unlike neighboring Nepal, the other approach to Everest, China has no age limit for climbers. Jordan registered with Chinese officials in April, said Zhang Mingxing, secretary general of China Tibet Mountaineering Association.

No interview with Jordan would be possible until he returns to advance base camp, which could take a couple of days, Bailey said.

Climbers stay overnight at three or four camps before the summit, depending on their route and pace. Jordan's team spent nearly five weeks on the mountain acclimatizing and preparing for Saturday's predawn final climb.

Jordan carried a number of good luck charms, including a pair of kangaroo testicles given to him by a friend who has cancer.

"That's the one that probably meant the most," Bailey said.

At the summit, Jordan left behind his lucky rabbit's foot and planted some seeds that a Buddhist monk at a local monastery had given him for luck on his journey, Bailey said. Then he took the satellite phone and called his mom.

"He's such a good boy and he calls his mom every day," Drake said, laughing, just minutes later.

Drake said her son took two months of homework with him to keep up in school

Jordan continues the recent trend of young adventurers. Earlier this month, 16-year-old Australian Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail around the globe solo, nonstop and unassisted. Thousands lined Sydney Harbor to cheer as she cruised past the finish line in her pink yacht.

A Dutch court late last year blocked an even younger sailor, 14-year-old sailor Laura Dekker, from pursuing a similar round-the-world voyage, ordering her to prepare more and wait at least until this year before starting.

And in January, 17-year-old Johnny Collinson of Utah became the youngest person to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents.

Just one mountain remains in Jordan's own quest to climb those peaks, the Vinson Massif in Antarctica.

Jordan's team leaves for Antarctica in December, Bailey said.

"A piece of cake," his mother said.

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Cool! Tokyo couple married by robot in rooftop wedding!

Japan has hosted the world's first wedding to be conducted by a robot.

The automated creature, known as the I-Fairy, oversaw the wedding of Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue in the capital, Tokyo.

The couple decided to use the robot as they are both connected with Japan's thriving robotics industry.

Since robots had brought them together in the first place, they said, having one officiate at their wedding was a natural choice.

During the ceremony, I-Fairy - which has flashing eyes and plastic pigtails - instructed the groom to lift the bride's veil for the kiss.

The wedding took part in a rooftop restaurant in the Japanese capital.

This is the video :

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Meteor Crashed In Indonesian!

Location

Suspicion of a meteor crashed in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, continues to strengthen. National Aviation and Space Agency (Lapan) identifies the meteor was about 30×30 centimeters in diameter.

“The size is like a coconut. Because it is seen from a hole in the wall reflections about 30×30 cm,” said Professor of Astronomy from Lapan, Thomas Djamaluddin, at the scene, Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, Friday, April 30, 2010.

people from Lapan

According to him, from the properties found at the scene while a strong suspicion it was a meteor. But, at the bottom of the home had not yet found chunks of meteorite in question.

“I guess meteornya ceiling still exists in the house behind it,” said researcher who is familiarly called this Djamaluddin. “This type of sporadic meteors.”

Dust from meteor

Sporadic Meteors occur randomly, or that it is never predictable. But Djamaluddin denied earlier testimony that is similar to a meteor that fell in Bone.

“Meteors in the Bone does not like this. What is much greater in the Bone,” he said again. What would he say, this incident never happened in previous years.

“In 2003 in Pontiac, but the vacant land. In 2007, in Gianyar, Bali crashed in the fields,” he said. “The event happened to a new home first time this has happened,” he added.

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Beaver dam 'visible from space'!

Beavers in Canada have built the world's longest dam which can reportedly be seen from space.

The incredible construction is a staggering 2,790ft in length, more than half a mile long, according to The Sun.

It is twice the size of what was the world's largest man-made dam - the Hoover dam in the US, which spans 1,244ft.

Located on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park in Northern Alberta, it was spotted by experts monitoring the size and spread of beaver dams in north America.

Sharon Brown, a biologist from Beavers: Wetland and Wildlife, an educational organisation in north America, said: "Beavers build dams to create a good habitat.

"They create a habitat with lots of water like a moat around their lodges so they can swim and dive and keep one step ahead of predators such as coyotes and bears. This dam is particularly big."

While beaver dams are often found to be around 1,500ft long, this one has surprised biologists because of its length.

It is thought that several beaver families joined forces to create the massive dam that contains thousands of trees and would have taken many months to complete.

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Crazy! Pig invited to vote in election!

A council sent a letter to a woman's pet pig offering the animal the chance to register to vote in the election.

The letters were addressed to Blossom Grant at Pig Flats - the animal's old sty in Uckfield, East Sussex.

The building was renovated two years ago and now houses volunteers at a local horse rescue centre, reports the Daily Telegraph.

But due to a Land Registry error the pig receives several junk letters a month.

Pauline Grant, 73, Blossom's owner, said: "I could not believe it when the letter telling Blossom to register to vote came through it was one of the strangest things I had ever seen.

"I am not sure who Blossom would have voted for but at a guess I would say the Green Party. They would probably look after her needs best.

"She is a very clever animal but I think politics might be a bit complicated for her."

After contacting Wealden District Council to point out the mix-up, Mrs Grant decided to take Blossom down to her nearest polling station on May 6.

She added: "I did it as a sort of piggy protest for poor old Blossom and the amount of paperwork she is expected to do."

A spokesman for Wealden District said: "The flat is listed as being named The Pig on a database of addresses used by local authorities. I can confirm no pigs voted in the area last week."

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Concert for dogs at Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House will be transformed into the world's most iconic kennel - when it stages a concert for dogs.

The one off concert will feature music in such a high pitch that only dogs will be able to hear it.

The 20-minute outdoor show will take place on the world-famous building's northern foyer, reports the Australian Daily Telegraph.

The experimental concert, to be held on June 5, is part of the upcoming Vivid Live music festival at the Opera House from May 27.

Local dog owner Renee Russell said she would definitely be bringing her spaniel Ollie along to enjoy the show.

"I'm definitely going, I want to see how he'll react," she said.

"It's getting harder to find places you can take dogs so it's nice they are putting on an event for them."

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New bra grows your own rice

A Japanese lingerie maker has created a bra that grows rice.

The Triumph Japan bra features pots instead of cups, and a plastic water hose with seedlings acting as a belt.

It even comes with a pair of detachable fareming gloves, reports The Sun.

The grow-your-own bra was created to raise awareness of food self-sufficiency, allowing the wearer to cultivate rice any time, anywhere.

Yoshiko Masuda, of Triumph, said: "Over the last year, young Japanese women have taken a tremendous interest in agriculture.

"We wanted other women to experience farming as well. That's what inspired this bra."

Triumph Japan has a reputation for making "gimmick" underwear that conveys a political message.

Last year, Triumph made a bra that featured food bowls around the cups, allowing busy women to eat on the go.

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Scientists find stone age sex toy

Scientists believe they have found the world's oldest sex toy after piecing together more than a dozen fragments to recreate a 30,000-year-old stone age phallus.

A spokesman for the University of Tubingen, where the prehistoric tool is being studied, added that when it was not being used as a sex aid, it was used to light fires.

The eight-inch stone phallus has marks where it was clearly used for striking against flints - and scientists say the size and shape and polished appearance leave little doubt as to its other use.

The find, which has been dated to be at least 28,000 years old and found in a cave near Ulm in Germany, was made from siltstone and was apparently discarded after being broken.

As well as the distinctive form, it also has carved rings around one polished end leaving little doubt as to its nature.

The different parts were found in a cave complex associated with the activities of modern humans and not their pre-historic "cousins", the Neanderthals.

The sex toy is particularly rare because examples of masculinity from the time are rare although female inspired art with exaggerated sexual characteristics such as large breasts are relatively common.

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Nasa spacecraft 'hijacked by aliens'

A UFO expert claims aliens have hijacked a Nasa spacecraft and are using it to try to contact Earth.

Voyager 2, an unmanned probe that has been in space since 1977, is sending strange messages that are confusing scientists.

German academic Hartwig Hausdorf believes it is because it has been taken over by extraterrestrial life.

Since its launch, Voyager 2 has been sending streams of data back to Earth for study by scientists, but on April 22, 2010, that stream of information suddenly changed.

Nasa claimed that a software problem with the flight data system was the cause but Mr Hausdorf believes it could be the work of aliens.

This is because all other parts of the spacecraft appear to be functioning fine.

He told the German newspaper Bild: "It seems almost as if someone has reprogrammed or hijacked the probe - thus perhaps we do not yet know the whole truth."

Voyager 2 carries a disk with greetings in 55 languages on it in case the craft encounters other life forms.

Dr Edward Stone, a scientist on the project, said the desk, called the Golden Record, is "a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials.

"The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record-a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth."

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Great Grandmother, 87, Found Murdered

An 87-year-old great grandmother has been stabbed to death by an intruder in her sout-east London home.

Police found the body of Irene Barrett in her flat in Charlton this morning.

A man in his 20s has been arrested. Scotland Yard said next of kin have been informed.

Local residents said they were "disgusted" by the attack.

Officers found Ms Barrett, believed to be a retired secretary, at her flat in Charlton, south-east London, this morning.

Fighting back tears, neighbour Claire Pickett, 30, said: "I just do not understand how anyone could do this.

"She was such a lovely lady. She used to knit blankets for premature babies and animals at Battersea Dogs Home.

"She even made a blanket for my baby when it was born. She was like a grandmother for all the young children here.

"A lot of her friends had died so she really was like the last one."

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said a murder investigation was launched after the victim was found with multiple stab wounds in Valiant House, Sam Bartram Close.

An incident room has been set up at Lewisham police station under Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons of the homicide and serious crime command.

DCI Lyons said: "This is a violent attack resulting in the death of an elderly lady in her own home.

"At this early stage we believe this is a burglary which has escalated into murder.

"I would appeal to anyone who knows anything about this incident to contact the police immediately."

Anyone with information is urged to contact the incident room at Lewisham on 0208 721 4961 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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Mall slammed over bra contest

A shopping centre has been slammed for staging a competition to see how quickly contestants could unhook women's bras with one hand.

Anyone who could undo eight bras with one hand in under a minute won a shopping voucher to spend at the mall in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China.

Eight women stood in a line on a stage, wearing only a bra and a face mask above the waist, for the event, reports the Guangzhou Daily.

Some of the watching crowd clapped and cheered as contestants successfully unfastened bras - but others were shocked by the event.

One angry shopper, Zhang Zhengyi, complained: "This must have been the brainwave of a dirty old man - why would anyone want to take part in such a degrading spectacle?"

But a spokesman for the Modern Development shopping mall defended the competition which he said was to promote underwear awareness.

"The workings of a women's bra are a mystery for many men - this activity helped more people understand bra culture and explore its secrets," he said.

Ironically, the competition was won by a woman who successfully unfastened eight bras in just 21 seconds.

She did not wish to be identified but said: "I thought it was a lot of fun. I didn't expect to win - maybe it was because I get so much practice in my everyday life."

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Miracle seagull shot by attackers SURVIVES despite having dart lodged in its head

'Sad sight': The seagull 'seems absolutely normal' despite having been shot through the head with a dart

With a dart lodged in its head after being shot by attackers, it’s a miracle this seagull has survived.

The distressed bird is still managing to fly even though the bolt, of which both ends are visible, pierced it between the eyes.

It was spotted by Graham Rhodes, a photographer who lives in Scarborough, who was left shocked. It’s the second recent case in the Burr Bank area after another seagull was found with an injured wing.

Mr Rhodes, who runs Aakschipper Gallery, said he believes the dart is a bolt from a crossbow – and he was concerned the attacks could result in an increase of violence in the town.

‘My main worry is that there is someone walking the streets of Scarborough with a crossbow and shooting at birds,’ he said.

‘If they are shooting at gulls in the sky and miss, the bolts have to go somewhere and could take someone's eye out.

‘It is incredibly hard to believe that the bird is still flying with a bolt in its head because you would think the weight of the object would restrict its movement.

‘However the bird seems absolutely normal,' he told the Scarborough Evening News.

‘The gulls are coming up to the breeding season and I always see this one with its mate when I walk my dog in the area. It is such a sad sight.’

'Incredible': The seagull is still managing to fly despite the weight of the dart in its head

It comes after the introduction of two harrier hawks in the area to clear gulls from the town’s Grand Hotel.

Geoff Edmond, RSPCA inspector for the Scarborough area, said it was ‘appalling’ and ‘completely illegal’ to shoot birds.

‘It is remarkable that the gull with the bolt in its head is still flying because the object could have hit the brain or fractured its skull,’ he added.

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